14-year-old charged in carjacking, escape from juvenile jail

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A 14-year-old Warrick County boy faces felony charges after reportedly slipping out of his handcuffs and carjacking the driver taking him to a juvenile jail in Vincennes.

The boy is set to appear in Vanderburgh County Juvenile Court at 8 a.m. Friday. A delinquency petition, the juvenile court equivalent of formal charges in adult court, was filed in the case Wednesday.

The 61-year-old driver told police she was taking the boy from the Warrick County Courthouse in Boonville to the juvenile jail in Vincennes on Jan. 25 when they stopped at White Castle in Evansville to get food.

In the White Castle drive-thru, the boy reportedly asked the driver if she could loosen his handcuffs, saying his hand was going numb. According to a probable cause affidavit, the driver pulled over and opened the boy’s door to hand him his food and loosen the cuffs.

She saw both of his hands were tucked inside his sweatshirt and asked to see them, she told police. The boy moved to attack her, and the driver realized he had slipped one of his hands from the cuffs before she opened the door.

The two struggled, and the driver briefly pushed the boy back into the vehicle, but he bit her arm. Both “wrestled around the front of the vehicle” and ended up in the driver’s seat, according to the affidavit. The 14-year-old was able to take the key from the driver. She told police she jumped away from the vehicle to avoid being hit, and he drove away.

Police say the boy had one hand still in cuffs and both legs were cuffed when he drove away.

Illinois State Police spotted the missing vehicle “a couple hours after the robbery” and pursued the vehicle to the Illinois-Indiana state line where they stopped.

The 14-year-old went to the Walmart in Newburgh, and Warrick County Sheriff’s deputies took him into custody there after they were tipped off by a family member of the boy. He was taken to the Youth Care Center.